You have probably heard about John Hattie. Specifically, you may have heard about his research on the factors that affect student achievement. Hattie uses effect sizes to show the relative impact of each factor. An effect size of 0.4 is regarded as average or typical. His work is ongoing. To my ... [Read more]

Are you a new teacher? Do you know a new teacher, or do you have new teachers on your staff this year?
If so, I think you’ll find this valuable. It is my list of the top 10 things I believe every new teacher should know before they start their first day of teaching.
The list is based on ... [Read more]

But You Need To Act Now

There is so much to do at the start of the school year. Yet, there is one thing many teachers overlook and it is something that will save you a lot of work later on.
I’m talking about report cards!
Love them or hate them, they are part of every teacher’s life and they take a ... [Read more]

Checking for understanding is an essential aspect of teaching. You need to check that your students have understood what you taught them. It’s how you know what to do next.
However, if you are like most teachers, your time is already stretched thin, and you don’t want to be creating even more ... [Read more]

We all want to have a real impact on how well our students do at school. After all, it’s why most of us became teachers in the first place.
The success of your aspirations as a teacher depends upon the impact you have on your students’ results.
Passion for evaluating impact is the single most ... [Read more]

Peer tutoring involves one student helping another student to learn and master some aspect of the curriculum. One student (the tutor) helps another student (the tutee) to master something that they have not yet mastered in class.
Why Use Peer Tutoring?
Peer tutoring helps students to ... [Read more]

So you’ve graduated and landed a job – congratulations! You have made the first step in what can be one of the most rewarding professions around.
The alarming news is that not all new teachers make it. In fact, research ((Ewing, R., & Manuel, J. (2005). Retaining Early Career Teachers In The ... [Read more]

There are a lot of elaborate theories and vogue words that try to describe what good teaching entails. Sadly, some of them have little, if any grounding in evidence at all. Others do, but they are difficult to carry out and their effects are small.
A teacher has limited time, and this makes your ... [Read more]

to Establish Appropriate Student Behaviour

While there are many aspects of effective teaching, when you are working with a new class, or struggling to gain control of a tough class, it is critical that you attend to these core points.
Expect Your Students To Learn
It is true that students who behave well ... [Read more]

Most teachers are not surprised to learn that successful behaviour management is crucial to both students’ success and to their own sanity. However, you may not be sure which behaviour management strategies have the most impact.
When behaviour management is talked about in many schools, the ... [Read more]